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Cicero: Leek patties are an ancient Sephardic favorite

Louise wrote for help finding a recipe for a “memorable” dish she tasted in Spain at a Sephardic Seder. She described it as “a small fritter or tortilla made with leeks.”

“The dish that Louise inquired about … is called leek croquettes or, in Ladino, keftes de prasa,” writes Joyce Ben-Ezra, who shared a recipe from “Sephardic Holiday Cooking: Recipes and Traditions” by Gilda Angel (Decalogue Books, 1986). (Ladino is a dialect that combines Spanish and Hebrew as well as words from Arabic and Portuguese.)

“I’ve never been to Spain, but I do have this recipe from Joan Nathan’s ‘Jewish Holiday Cookbook’,” said Kathy Weiss of Miami.

Norma Orovitz responded with a recipe from another of Nathan’s books, “Jewish Cooking in America” (Knopf, 1994), called Frittada de Pressa, or Sephardic Casserole of Leek and Potatoes.

Nathan notes that while potatoes put this recipe post-New World exploration, “leek patties with matzah crumbs and feta cheese or meat is an extremely old Sephardic holiday recipe.”

The recipe here, adapted from Nathan’s holiday cookbook, makes individual patties, but you also could make it as a tortilla. Use the same ingredients (except the oil for frying), but skip the blending and instead mix them in an oiled deep-dish pie plate. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees, or until eggs are as firm as you like. Cut into wedges to serve.

SEPHARDIC LEEK PATTIES

2 pounds leeks

2 large potatoes, peeled

3 large eggs

Salt and pepper

½ cup grated Romano or feta cheese

Vegetable oil for frying

Wash the leeks carefully, slicing them vertically to remove all of the grit. Dice the white base and part of the green leaves. Parboil in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain.

Boil the potatoes until soft. Drain and cool. Mash the potatoes. Add the leeks, blending them in well. Add the eggs, salt and pepper to taste and the cheese. Blend well. Form into 12 patties.

Heat some oil in a heavy frying pan. When it sizzles (375 degrees), add the leek patties and fry until golden brown on each side. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately. Makes 12 patties.

About 12 years ago, I attended a birthday party and the hostess served a mango salad. I asked her for the recipe but never was able to get it. The salad was similar to a salsa but with larger chunks of mango with red onion, capers, etc.

—Joan K. Cortina, Miami

I use this recipe here as both a salsa and a salad. For fish tacos, I dice everything really small.

For a salad served with grilled chicken or planked salmon, I like the mango in ½-inch cubes and may omit the jalapeno.

QUICK MANGO SALAD

1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ medium red onion, finely chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

½ bell pepper, diced

1 small cucumber, peeled and diced

3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

½ teaspoon capers (optional)

Gently toss all of the ingredients in a non-reactive bowl and refrigerate up to 1 hour and at least 15 minutes before serving. Makes 4 servings.

I don’t bake as often as I once did, but when I do I indulge in the best ingredients. So I found a new cookbook centered on key ingredients wonderfully appealing. Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito’s “Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $32.50) is a treat, with original recipes and endearing stories from the authors, who left their day jobs in advertising to open a bakery, Baked, in Brooklyn.

Two of them — peanut butter and chocolate — are combined in the bars here. “We actually prefer them in the morning, with a hearty cup of coffee,” they write. “The world just seems like a better place when you wake up with our Good Morning Sunshine Bars.”

“Though it might be tempting to cover the entire surface of the bar in chocolate, we encourage you to refrain,” they add. “Too much chocolate obscures some of the peanut flavor and crunch.”

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE BARS

6 cups crunchy, plain cereal (such as Rice Chex)

1¼ cups salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1½ teaspoons salt

6 ounces good-quality milk chocolate, chopped

Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper, letting it hang over the two short sides. Butter the parchment. Place the cereal and peanuts in a large bowl and use your hands to toss together until mixed well.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together the sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil for one full minute. Remove from heat and add the peanut butter, vanilla and salt, stirring until combined. Pour the sugar mixture over the cereal mixture and use a wooden spoon to toss until the cereal is coated with the sugar mixture. Scrape into the prepared pan.

With greased hands, press the mixture into the bottom of the pan, being careful not to crush the cereal. Cool to room temperature (to speed the process, you may place the pan in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes).

Melt the chocolate in a microwave or double boiler. Use a spoon or piping bag to decorate the tops of the bars in a stripe or zigzag pattern. Allow the chocolate to set.

Lift the bars out of the pan using the parchment paper overhang, and cut into pieces about 3 by 1 1/2 inches. Store in an airtight container. If the weather is hot and humid, refrigerate. Makes 24 bars.

Back in the 1950s, my mother, dad (former Miami Herald columnist Jack Kofoed) and I occasionally dined at Le Parisian, a French restaurant on Arthur Godfrey Road. Among the specialties was braised endive with a delicious white sauce. I have tried repeatedly to duplicate that sauce, but have failed miserably. Can anyone help?

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